Genetics
by Maeve of Winter
Summary: Dan becomes uneasy when he discovers some inconsistencies in his hereditary family tree.


**Opening Author's Note:**

Constructive criticism is welcome on this fic as it is welcome on all of my stories. Also, I know Dan had dark eyes in the books, but that was changed for story purposes. His blue eyes will become plot relevant later in this story.

* * *

The silence of the cabin is broken at the sound of footsteps thundering up the staircase. Dan Mangan smiles as Mart Belden bursts into his room.

"Here's Brian's genetics textbook," Mart says, tossing the book to Dan, who catches it easily.

"Thanks," Dan says from where he's sitting cross-legged on the braided rag rug. He begins flipping through the book's pages.

"What are you up to?" Mart asks curiously, glancing at the documents spread out before Dan.

"Looking at some old papers my parents left," Dan explains. It's a selective truth- in reality, he accidentally stumbled across them in the locked drawer of Regan's office desk, and then decided to borrow them. "These list the descriptions of their immediate families. I guess it was in case they got separated and needed to find each other again, maybe during wartime or something. It's really lucky that this stuff was saved even when my mom and Regan got sent to the orphanage." He glances up at Mart. "Those _Star Wars_ comics I mentioned earlier are in the box by the bowl chair."

"Sweet!" Mart exclaims, flopping down onto the papasan. He looks at Dan. "Do you mind if I-"

"Knock yourself out." Dan smiles.

Mart digs through the carton eagerly. "Wow, these are the issues about the Nagi and Den Siva. I actually think you look a lot like him, you know, since you're dark-haired but so pale."

"Good to hear," Dan replies absently from where he's studying the documents. One lists descriptions of his mother and her family, while the other contains similar information about his father and his parents. As far as Dan is aware, his father didn't have any siblings.

A comfortable silence settles between them as each concentrates on his individual task.

Though Dan wouldn't even rank as an amateur where knowledge of genetics is concerned, he's managed to gather from the listings that it's unlikely that he would wind up with blue eyes as he has. While it's more of a slim chance rather than legitimately impossible, right now he can't find anyone in his family he could have inherited them from.

Then again, according to this paper about his mother's family, all four members- her, her brother, and her parents- all had green eyes and red hair, one of the rarest hair and eye color combinations found in human existence. Luck of the Irish, Dan supposes, that all of them would inherit it. (Like, what, were they the Irish version of Aryans, or something?) So, maybe improbability doesn't have much to do with genetics.

Biting his lip, Dan skims the paper about his father's family. K. Timothy Mangan had blond hair, as had his mother, while his father was brown-haired. All of them were described as having brown eyes.

Dan's blue eyes are one thing- while it is far more likely he would have brown eyes, or on a lesser chance, green, there's still a narrow possibility. But where the hell did his black hair come from? If this information on his family is accurate, shouldn't he have brown, blond, or red hair?

Possessing one trait that remained totally absent from his family for two generations is a matter that can be easily explained. But showing two traits absolutely no one else in his immediate bloodline demonstrated?

Again, it's not impossible, and after all, he doesn't have any information on his grandparents' siblings or parents, so it's not conclusive, either. But regardless, Dan is skeptical.

A section on the paper lists his father's distinguishing characteristics. The crucifix tattoo on his right bicep, the slim diagonal scar on the left side of his face, and another scar toward the middle of his collarbone.

Grinning, Dan recalls that each time he asked, his father told him a different story of how he got the scars. When he was a kid, his dad regaled him with tales of fighting dragons and wrestling gators. Once Dan was older, Timothy offered sarcastic recollections of tripping over shoes that were left lying in the middle of the floor. Those stories were always followed by instructions for Dan to actually put his sneakers away instead of just kicking them off in the middle of the room and leaving them there.

The smile fades from Dan's face as he remembers that in the end, none of the characteristic features helped to find his father. Timothy's body was never recovered.

Dan looks to the paper again, and his eyes fall on another section of information: blood type. His father was O positive, while Dan's grandfather and grandmother were B positive and O positive, respectively. Dan knows with certainty that his own blood type is AB negative. However, no blood type of anyone on Dan's mother's side is listed.

That's an inconvenience, but Dan has direct access to his mother's brother. There must be a way to use Regan's blood to trace back to his grandparents' blood types, and then trace forward to his mother's. Then Dan will be able to disprove his ridiculous suspicions. He doesn't even know why he's spending so much time puzzling over the documents, or why his stomach is churning and his hands are clammy.

Good Lord, if he's feeling mistrust over a couple of papers, being friends with Trixie must really be getting to him. There's simply no other explanation for his doubts.

At least, that's what Dan tells himself as he folds his hands to make them stop shaking.

Now, it's just a matter of getting his hands on some of Regan's blood for testing. If he can cause an accident- maybe give Regan a bloody nose or have him cut his hand on sharp glass-

Instantly, Dan feels horrible for even thinking of such ideas, even though he's not sure how else he could wrangle some of Regan's blood. It's not like he can just walk up to his uncle and ask for a vial of it, after all.

Wait a minute . . . yes, he can. If Dan lies and says he needs it for science class at school, Regan will probably draw blood from himself on the spot. He's constantly on Dan's case about his performance at school. Admittedly, that's probably because of the phone calls he continually receives from Dan's creative writing teacher rather than Dan's actual academic ranking, which places him in the top five percent of his class.

"Hey, Mart," Dan says, gathering up the papers. "Do you think we can con Brian into driving us to the pharmacy? I need another prescription filled."

Mart's eyebrows rise. "More pills?"

"The latest sleeping pills the doctor gave me don't work," Dan lies. They work, but he doesn't want to use them; he likes his insomnia. "I have to get different ones."

"Sure," Mart says, instantly abandoning the comic book and leaping to his feet. "We'll go right now."

"Great." Dan smiles at him and leads the way out the door and down the stairs.

He's seen home blood tests for sale at the pharmacy. He can buy one and use it to test Regan's blood. Then he can find some answers.

Dan can't wait. He's ready to put his mind at ease and prove that everyone in his family was who they said they were.

* * *

**Concluding Author's Note:**

It's been a while, so please let me know if any of the genetic reasoning about Dan's family is blatantly incorrect. I know some of this stuff requires willing suspension of disbelief, such as the plethora of green-eyed redheads and brown-eyed blonds, which in reality, are relatively rare hair and eye color combinations. And if you notice a disparity between Dan's blood type and his father's, that's because there's supposed to be one.

Thanks for reading!


End file.
